Choosing the right processor hardware to power your most important database applications can make or break how your business operates. For large, mission-critical databases, high-performance, reliable
…

Choosing the right processor hardware to power your most important database applications can make or break how your business operates. For large, mission-critical databases, high-performance, reliable processors are key to keeping your databases up and running and performing well.

In our hands-on lab tests with large Oracle 12c databases, we found that a four-socket server powered by the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2 delivered dramatically better database performance than an IBM POWER7+ processor-based system, increasing transactions per minute by 15.9 percent. Fewer servers or higher capacity at a 69.4 percent lower acquisition cost enables IT use the savings and innovate in other areas. Plus, in our tests the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-based server used up to 42.0 percent less power while idle and up to 33.5 percent less power while running our database workload, which in a real-world environment would reduce ongoing operational expense for energy. If you put these numbers all together, that equates to a 5.7x performance per steady-state system watt per acquisition dollar advantage – a key metric to ensure your datacenter space is efficient. The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family-based system also left twice the processor headroom to allow for future growth.

Selecting systems that can deliver such top-of-the-line performance can ready your business to meet customer needs better, increasing satisfaction to improve your bottom line. Higher performing systems can also reduce the number of servers you need to house, power, and run, which makes your infrastructure more efficient and reliable.

Transcript

1.
MISSION-CRITICAL DATABASE PERFORMANCE:
INTEL XEON PROCESSOR E7 V2 FAMILY VS. IBM POWER7+
Your large databases are not just part of your business; they are vital to
operation day in and day out. For these mission-critical workloads, not just any
hardware will do. You need reliable, high-performing systems to power these database
applications and ensure employees and customers can complete the tasks that they
need to.
High-performance processors can ensure the performance you need, but which
performs the best, saves on acquisition costs, reduces power consumption, and leaves
headroom for future growth? In our labs at Principled Technologies, we compared two
systems based on high-performance processors: a new four-socket Intel Xeon processor
E7-4890 v2-based server versus an IBM POWER7+ processor-based system. Running
bare-metal Oracle® Database 12c workloads, the Intel Xeon processor-based system
outperformed the IBM POWER7+ system by 15.9 percent in our tests. What’s more, the
better-performing Intel Xeon processor-based system costs 69.4 percent less, used up to
42.0 percent less idle power, and used 33.5 percent less active power, while leaving
twice the headroom for future growth. All these factors lead to a 5.7x performance per
system watt per dollar advantage.
These results show that servers harnessing the new Intel Xeon processor E7 v2
family can deliver the high performance per system watt per dollar you demand for your
large, mission-critical databases while helping your bottom line.
* Reflects price estimates Intel provided.
FEBRUARY 2014
A PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES TEST REPORT
Commissioned by Intel Corp.

2.
MORE PERFORMANCE MEANS BETTER BUSINESS
Customers and employees alike need to access your critical databases without
waiting. By maximizing the performance of your infrastructure, you ensure that business
keeps moving as quickly as possible. This has the potential to lead to such benefits as
increased user satisfaction, larger profits, and even decreased infrastructure costs as
you eliminate underperforming hardware.
These critical databases need specialized, reliable processing hardware that can
deliver the highest performance possible. To help determine the performance, power
consumption, and processor headroom that certain processor architecture might bring
to your Oracle Database environment, we compared the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890
v2 against the IBM POWER7+ using a supply chain warehouse OLTP database workload
on Oracle Database 12c. We used the open-source HammerDB utility as our test tool.
For system configuration information, see Appendix A.
And the winner is…
In our lab tests, the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-powered server
outperformed the IBM POWER7+ processor-based system. The Intel Xeon processor
system was able to handle 1.16 times the number of Oracle transactions per minute
that the IBM POWER7+ system could handle (see Figure 1). This means that the Intel
Xeon processor E7 v2 family-based server delivered 15.9 percent more performance
than the IBM POWER7+ system for the Oracle database in our tests.
Database performance
Figure 1: The Intel Xeon
processor E7-4890 v2-powered
server delivered 15.9 percent
more database performance
than the IBM POWER7+-based
server delivered.
Relative performance
1.40
1.20
1.00
1.16
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
IBM POWER7+ processor-based Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2server
based server
Mission-critical database performance: Intel Xeon processor E7
v2 family vs. IBM POWER7+
A Principled Technologies test report 2

3.
Factoring in system cost
Increased performance for critical database workloads is important, but at what
cost does that large increase come? In this case, the high-performing Intel Xeon
processor E7-4890 v2-based server would cost significantly less—69.4 percent less—
than its lower-performing competitor. Figure 2 compares the estimated price for the
configured four-socket Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-powered server compared to
the IBM Power 750 Express server with IBM POWER7+ 4.0 GHz processors.1 These prices
give Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-powered server a 3.2x advantage in reducing
acquisition cost, which frees up money for other efforts.
Hardware purchase cost
(lower is better)
$189,970
$200,000
$150,000
US dollars
Figure 2: The Intel Xeon
processor E7-4890 v2-powered
server would cost an estimated
69.4 percent less to purchase
than the IBM POWER7+-based
server.
$100,000
$58,053
(estimate)
$50,000
$0
IBM POWER7+ processor-based Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2server
based server
Don’t forget to look at power consumption
The cost of powering high-performance hardware day in and day out has a great
effect on your ongoing operating expenses. The lower the power consumption, the
better for your budget. While we ran our tests on the systems, we recorded the power
they consumed both while idle and while running our Oracle Database 12c workload.
As Figure 3 shows, the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-based server consumed
42.0 percent less power while idle than the IBM POWER7+ processor-based system
during a two-minute sampling period.
1
Intel provided the estimated price for the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-based server. Price of the IBM POWER7+ processorbased server is list price from Avnet, February 2014. Prices do not include tax or shipping.
Mission-critical database performance: Intel Xeon processor E7
v2 family vs. IBM POWER7+
A Principled Technologies test report 3

5.
As Figure 5 shows, The Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-based system ran the
workload with an average CPU utilization of 61.5 percent, compared to the IBM
POWER7+-based system’s 81.0 percent. This means that the Intel Xeon processor-based
server had nearly twice the remaining headroom to handle more workloads than the
IBM POWER7+-based server. The remaining headroom would allow you to add more
workloads as your business grows in the future, without the cost of adding servers to
your infrastructure.
Figure 5: The Intel Xeon
processor E7-4890 v2-powered
server handled the workload
with nearly twice the
headroom of the IBM
POWER7+-based server.
Percentage processor utilization
CPU utilization
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
81.0%
61.5%
IBM POWER7+ processor-based Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2server
based server
In addition to increased processor headroom for future growth, the Intel Xeon
processor E7-4890 v2-based system supports six times more memory than the IBM
Power 750 Express (6 TB vs. 1 TB), which can lead to performance advantages with
memory-intensive applications. This increased memory footprint can be particularly
beneficial to in-memory applications such as newer analytics and business intelligence
programs.
WHAT WE TESTED
About the new Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family
Intel designed the new Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family to support missioncritical, high-performance workloads by adding up to 50 percent more cores/threads
and 25 percent more cache to provide significant jumps in performance from previous
releases. The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family provides up to 6TB DDR3 memory,
supports up to 24 DDR3 DIMMs per socket, and supports up to 1,600MHz DDR3 speeds
to improve performance and increase scalability.
The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family supports all the previous reliability,
availability, and serviceability features of previous processor releases to support critical
workloads. With Intel Run Sure technology, these processors add new RAS features,
Mission-critical database performance: Intel Xeon processor E7
v2 family vs. IBM POWER7+
A Principled Technologies test report 5

6.
including eMCA Gen 1, MCA Recovery – Execution Path, MCA IO, and PCIe Live Error
Recovery.
For more information about the Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 product family, visit
www.intel.com/xeon.
About our test tool, HammerDB
HammerDB is an open-source benchmark tool that tests the database
performance of many leading databases, including Oracle Database, Microsoft® SQL
Server®, PostgreSQL, MySQL™, and more. The benchmark includes two built-in
workloads derived from industry-standard benchmarks: a transactional (TPC-C-like)
workload and a data warehouse (TPCH-like) workload. For this study, we used the
transactional workload. Our tests were not official TPC results and are not comparable
in any manner.
For more information about HammerDB, visit hammerora.sourceforge.net.
IN CONCLUSION
Choosing the right processor hardware to power your most important database
applications can make or break how your business operates. For large, mission-critical
databases, high-performance, reliable processors are key to keeping your databases up
and running and performing well.
In our hands-on lab tests with large Oracle 12c databases, we found that a foursocket server powered by the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2 delivered dramatically
better database performance than an IBM POWER7+ processor-based system,
increasing transactions per minute by 15.9 percent. Fewer servers or higher capacity at
a 69.4 percent lower acquisition cost enables IT use the savings and innovate in other
areas. Plus, in our tests the Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2-based server used up to
42.0 percent less power while idle and up to 33.5 percent less power while running our
database workload, which in a real-world environment would reduce ongoing
operational expense for energy. If you put these numbers all together, that equates to a
5.7x performance per steady-state system watt per acquisition dollar advantage – a key
metric to ensure your datacenter space is efficient. The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2
family-based system also left twice the processor headroom to allow for future growth.
Selecting systems that can deliver such top-of-the-line performance can ready
your business to meet customer needs better, increasing satisfaction to improve your
bottom line. Higher performing systems can also reduce the number of servers you
need to house, power, and run, which makes your infrastructure more efficient and
reliable.
Mission-critical database performance: Intel Xeon processor E7
v2 family vs. IBM POWER7+
A Principled Technologies test report 6

10.
ABOUT PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road, Suite 300
Durham, NC, 27703
www.principledtechnologies.com
We provide industry-leading technology assessment and fact-based
marketing services. We bring to every assignment extensive experience
with and expertise in all aspects of technology testing and analysis, from
researching new technologies, to developing new methodologies, to
testing with existing and new tools.
When the assessment is complete, we know how to present the results to
a broad range of target audiences. We provide our clients with the
materials they need, from market-focused data to use in their own
collateral to custom sales aids, such as test reports, performance
assessments, and white papers. Every document reflects the results of
our trusted independent analysis.
We provide customized services that focus on our clients’ individual
requirements. Whether the technology involves hardware, software, Web
sites, or services, we offer the experience, expertise, and tools to help our
clients assess how it will fare against its competition, its performance, its
market readiness, and its quality and reliability.
Our founders, Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings, have worked
together in technology assessment for over 20 years. As journalists, they
published over a thousand articles on a wide array of technology subjects.
They created and led the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, which
developed such industry-standard benchmarks as Ziff Davis Media’s
Winstone and WebBench. They founded and led eTesting Labs, and after
the acquisition of that company by Lionbridge Technologies were the
head and CTO of VeriTest.
Principled Technologies is a registered trademark of Principled Technologies, Inc.
All other product names are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability:
PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. HAS MADE REASONABLE EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY AND VALIDITY OF ITS TESTING, HOWEVER,
PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO THE TEST RESULTS AND
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TESTING. CUSTOMER’S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES ARE AS SET FORTH HEREIN.
Mission-critical database performance: Intel Xeon processor E7
v2 family vs. IBM POWER7+
A Principled Technologies test report 10